Once a Ranger
Once a Ranger is a special team-up episode in Operation Overdrive involving Power Rangers from five different former generations (collectively known as veteran rangers) assisting the Overdrive Rangers in defeating a new threat: Thrax. The title of the episode is a blatant reference to the long-standing phrase "Once a ranger, always a ranger." Synopsis Part 1 Thrax—son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd—is freed, and he recruits all the villains who have been searching for the Jewels of the Corona Aurora—Flurious, Moltor, Kamdor, Miratrix, and the Fearcats Mig and Benglo—to unite with him temporarily. By severing their connection to the Morphing Grid forever, the temporary Evil Alliance destroys the Rangers' powers, and Andrew Hartford cannot fix their destroyed morphers. They use their enhanced skills in an attempt to defeat the villains, but fare no better, so the Sentinel Knight recruits five Rangers from the past—Kira Ford, Xander Bly, Adam Park, Bridge Carson, and Tori Hanson—to replace the Overdrive Rangers until their connection to the Morphing Grid is restored. Part 2 The villains in Thrax's "Evil Alliance" are angry, because Thrax did not think there would be more Rangers. Meanwhile, Mack Hartford is searching for information on the sword Excelsior—which Thrax says is the only thing capable of eliminating the Sentinel Knight. He tries to retrieve the sword, but is confronted by Thrax, who intends on saving the legacy of his family of Evil. He is unable to claim the sword for himself, so he sends a giant monster named Vulturas into the city to destroy it. The Retro Rangers head him off in the DriveMax Ultrazord and Flash Point Megazord, but are overpowered, and DriveMax Ultrazord loses an arm in the battle. Meanwhile, Mack convinces the Rangers that they will always be Rangers, powers or not, and they all attempt to free Excelsior from the Warrior-Goddess's hands. The statue comes to life and gives them the sword, sensing the shared friendship and combined conviction in their hearts. Then, Mack heads to the battlefield, where the Retro Rangers are about to be destroyed, and uses the sword Excelsior to destroy Vulturas. Meanwhile, Adam reactivates Alpha 6 and teleports him inside the Morphing Grid, where he fixes the severed connection, restoring the Overdrive Rangers' powers. Mack hands Sentinel Knight the Excelsior sword, which gives the Knight a Cyborg form. Confronting the "Evil Alliance", all 11 Rangers morph and battle the villains. Adam battles Thrax. Bridge and Mack team up to defeat Flurious. Dax, Will and Xander defeat the Fear Cats. Tori and Rose battle Moltor and his Lava Lizards, and Kira and Ronny team up against Kamdor and Miratrix. Tyzonn is able to destroy the newly revived Vulturas and Flurious's Chillers. To finish the battle, the Sentinel Knight arrives in his Cyborg form and destroys Thrax, and then joins the Rangers in defeating the rest of the villains. Retro Rangers Notes * Rita Repulsa, Thrax's mother, became the Mystic Mother in Power Rangers Mystic Force, though Xander did not relate the two together. * It is unknown when Thrax was born. It could be possible, out of many other theories, that he was born thousands of years before Rita Repulsa was imprisoned. * It is possible that the inclusion of Alpha 6 was meant to be Alpha 5 due to the reference to Zordon. Also, Adam had known Alpha 5 for a much longer time that he had known Alpha 6. Either way, however, it is unknown how either robot ended up on Earth, as Alpha 5 was last known to be on Eltar, and Alpha 6 was last known to be on Mirinoi. * Since Lost Galaxy's first episode, Angel Grove, the city where it all started for the Power Rangers, makes an appearance. * Surprisingly, Adam has a new Morphing sequence, as does Bridge. Although, for Adam's Morph, Adam doesn't yell "Mastodon." For Bridge's Morph, it doesn't end with Jack's battle cry "S.P.D. Red Ranger!" or the pose. * Adam also seems to have the ability to use the Black Defender Vest. * During his battle with Thrax, Adam yells out,"Morphinominal!" a phrase way before Operation Overdrive's time. * Due to copyright complications, the Go Go Power Rangers theme song was not featured when Adam was morphing or fighting, unlike all the other songs. In its place was an unnamed soundtrack that used high-pitched instruments. However, at the end of the second episode, all eleven Rangers put their hands together and called out, "Go go Power Rangers!" * It's unclear how Xander knows anything about piloting actual Zords, as the members of Mystic Force themselves transformed into their Zords. * Thrax's "Evil Alliance" could be a reference towards Dark Specter's United Alliance of Evil since his parents were top members. * This is the first time in the history of the series where another team of rangers pilots the current team's zords. * Adam, Bridge and Xander all have one thing in common in this particular episode, being that they were all Green Rangers at one point in time, Xander being the only one who still has his Green Ranger powers. * Once A Ranger is the fourth teamup in Power Rangers history to feature a combined team of 11 Rangers, the first being Power Rangers Zeo/Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, the second being Power Rangers Lost Galaxy/Power Rangers In Space, and the third being Power Rangers Dino Thunder/Power Rangers Ninja Storm. It is also the second time that Rangers from more than 2 seasons team up, the first one being Forever red, which ironically also commemorates the anniversary of the Power Rangers Franchise, in this Case 10. Gallery Image:OO Thrax.jpg|Thrax Image:Proo_e21_morph01.gif|Adam's New Morph. Image:Proo_e21_morph02.gif|Bridge's New Morph. Category:Operation Overdrive episodes Category:Power Rangers Teamup episode